Contact: Ryan Mahoney, ryan@amplifynh.org
Sununu’s Lasting Legacy: Skyrocketing Homelessness In New Hampshire
MANCHESTER, NH – Under Governor Chris Sununu’s leadership alongside a state government in full Republican control, New Hampshire has seen an unprecedented surge in homelessness, a crisis that will undoubtedly mar his legacy as governor. The newly released 2024 State of Homelessness in NH Annual Report released by the NH Coalition to End Homelessness shows that in 2023, homelessness surged 52%, the largest increase of any state in the country on an issue that already concerned New Hampshire residents.
As homelessness surged, Sununu dismissed and ignored calls for help from across the state. In 2020, all 13 New Hampshire mayors signed a letter urging the state to prioritize homelessness. In 2023, mayors of eight New Hampshire cities issued another letter calling for help once again, noting that two years passed without meaningful action or improved collaboration, including Sununu declining a meeting with New Hampshire’s mayors to discuss the impacts of the end of the Emergency Rental Assistance Program. Sununu responded to this letter not with help but by criticizing the “tone” of the mayors’ letter.
Between 2014-2016 (the two years before Governor Chris Sununu took office) New Hampshire had been experiencing an “encouraging decline” — a 19.45% decrease in homelessness statewide — a trend that began in 2012. Sununu has dramatically reversed that trend.
“Governor Sununu and his Republican majorities have led the nation’s worst freefall on homelessness,” said Amplify NH Executive Director Ryan Mahoney. “Sununu was handed progress on this issue and left the state in crisis, with skyrocketing homelessness and housing costs that have left families and communities struggling. Instead of working with mayors to address this critical issue, he dismissed and downplayed their concerns. His abject failure on homelessness and housing will be a lasting legacy of his time in office. Granite Staters will be closely watching to see if Governor-elect Ayotte can move on from legislating around radical fringe issues and start showing the leadership needed to reverse this concerning trend and help lower costs and New Hampshire’s tax burden.”
From 2016 to 2023, statewide homelessness has skyrocketed by 85%, jumping from 1,317 individuals to 2,441. These alarming figures confirm what New Hampshire’s cities and towns have long known: Governor Sununu has failed to meet this moment with the leadership and resources it demands.
Prior to Sununu’s governorship, New Hampshire was trending in the right direction. From 2014 to 2016, the state experienced an “encouraging decline” — a nearly 20% decrease in homelessness following years of strategic progress. Sununu reversed that trend, leaving communities across New Hampshire struggling under the weight of a worsening crisis.
The 2023 Point-In-Time Count (PIT) revealed that New Hampshire’s annual percentage increase in homelessness far outpaced national growth, where PIT numbers rose by 12%. Governor Sununu’s failure has not only cost New Hampshire its progress but has made the state a national outlier for all the wrong reasons.
Sununu’s failure to address homelessness directly correlates with his failure to address New Hampshire’s number one issue according to voters: the cost of housing. Median price of a single-family house in the state rose over 80% from 2018 to 2024. Average rent for a 2-bedroom apartment in New Hampshire rose by 46% during Sununu’s time as governor from $1,206 in 2016 to $1,764 in 2023, 1.5 times faster than the national average.
###
About Amplify New Hampshire
Amplify New Hampshire is a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization founded to keep Granite Staters informed of the decisions made in local, state, and federal government that will impact their lives and empower them to enact change. For more information, visit amplifynh.org.